


Nebula's First Christmas

by betheflame



Series: Shorts & Drabbles 2019 [15]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, First Christmas, Gen, Nebula & Tony Stark Friendship, Nebula (Marvel) Feels, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, POV Nebula (Marvel), Parent Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21598081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/pseuds/betheflame
Summary: Thanos has been defeated and Nebula needed a home, and found one at the Stark cabin. This is the tale of her first Christmas there - including meditations on family, tradition, and hope.
Relationships: Avengers Team & Nebula, Nebula & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Shorts & Drabbles 2019 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1432378
Comments: 35
Kudos: 181
Collections: MCU Christmas Exchange





	Nebula's First Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ruquas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruquas/gifts), [HogwartsToAlexandria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/gifts), [Juulna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juulna/gifts).



> As far as I'm concerned, today is the start of the holiday season and thus I wanted to kick it off with this fic. It was written for an exchange that dear Ruquas is running, but my giftee dropped out. They requested Christmas fluff and Nebula & Tony, so here we are. 
> 
> Gifted to Ruquas for all their work on the exchange (which I wrote an official fic for as well, and that will post on Dec 20th) and my long-suffering betas, who held me through much weeping and gnashing of teeth over this. It's my first attempt to write dear Nebula and I deeply hope I did her justice.

* * *

“Hey, Mr. Futurist,” Pepper called out to Tony as he came in from the workshop one November night.

“Yes, Ms. Potts?” He changed course and made for the kitchen, where she was elbow deep in dough of some sort.

“You remember this is Nebula’s first Christmas, don’t you?”

Tony blinked a few times and Pepper fought a smile. _Unlimited genius, invented time travel, cannot keep track of a calendar._

“That’s what I thought.” She grinned. “Morgan is already asking if Nebula knows about Santa and if she’s going to get a stocking. I covered Thanksgiving - well, the basics, and then MJ explained about smallpox blankets - but you get Christmas.”

“Roger that,” Tony replied as he rooted around in the fridge.

“What are you doing?” Pepper asked, not taking her eyes off the work of her hands.

“I’m looking for the cranberries,” Tony replied.

“They’re all in this bread; it’s a cranberry orange loaf for Peter to take to decathlon tomorrow. Do not look at me like that, I just like baking,” she said primly at her husband’s smirk.

His eyes softened slightly. “You like taking care of people and it’s one of the three thousand reasons I love you. Did he even ask?”

Pepper shook her head. “I heard him on the phone with MJ - sounds like Flash is being a horse’s ass again, so I thought some carbs might cheer them all up.”

“Does he go back to May’s after practice or am I picking him up?”

“May’s on overnights this month, so he’s here through Thanksgiving,” Pepper confirmed.

“So, we have how many for Thanksgiving?”

“27,” she replied simply as she prepped the bread for the oven.

“27.”

“Yes, Anthony, 27.”

“And we are putting them-”

“Nebula and Peter have a plan.”

“We’re letting Ms. Roboto and Night Monkey come up with a plan to bend the laws of physics so that we can fit 27 people in this house?”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Yes, because it’s called parenting. But, if you could clear a spot in the barn for a really long table, I’d appreciate it.”

He laughed and grabbed her for a quick kiss. “Where’s Miss Morgan?”

“In her room.” Pepper checked the clock. “And ready for her bath if you want to take care of that.”

Tony saluted and wandered towards the stairs. “Explain to me how we went from no kids to, like, five?”

“You collect strays, and also you can’t keep your hands off me,” Pepper smirked. “I’m surprised we don’t have more.”

“Ah, love, whole life ahead of us,” Tony responded. “We can set new goals!”

* * *

Family.

Nebula rolled the idea around in her mind, trying to re-write her understanding of it. She thought she had known what it was, what that word meant, what it required of her. She was so sure that she had crafted her life around that surety.

She knew now that what Thanos had offered her wasn’t love, wasn’t family, but something dark and twisted and manipulative. That his version of love wasn’t actually love, but was something… less than. What Tony and Pepper had for Morgan - she could easily see that that was not what Thanos had for either her or for Gamora.

She learned the term “gaslighting” from Natasha, about surviving domestic violence and consent from MJ, and so much about life on Earth from Pepper, and Tony, and Friday, and Morgan, and Peter, and, well, everyone.

She was beginning to understand why “the holiday season” - as everyone seemed to call it - was so hard for so many people. She missed Gamora like she missed a limb, but should she? She still craved approval from Thanos, and knew she shouldn’t. If all these things were family events, shouldn’t her family be at them? Was it betraying Gamora’s memory to now think of Morgan as her sister, like the little girl said to? What must this be like for creatures without neurotransmitters to sort most of their feelings for them?

Thanksgiving - which she learned was simultaneously a very lovely sentiment about making sure there was enough food for everyone while being grateful for all that we have, and a celebration of White Supremacy and genocide - was an interesting day.

“Nebbie,” Morgan said, sidling up to her new sister. “What did you eat on Thanksgiving on your planet?”

“We didn’t have this,” Nebula answered, haltingly.

“Oh,” Morgan looked crushed and Nebula scrambled to figure out what she had done wrong.

“Thanksgiving is only an American and Canadian thing, squirt,” MJ said from across the table. “They don’t even do it in England.”

Morgan wrinkled her nose. “Then how do you know when Christmas starts?”

“Isn’t Christmas one day?” Nebula’s confusion was stamped all over her face, and before Morgan could launch into a five-year-old’s explanation of all the trappings of Yuletide, Tony saved the day.

“It is, Shellhead,” Tony said affectionately, having passed on Cap’s old nickname for him as one of his ways to communicate to her that she was part of their team. “It’s December 25th, but it’s also a season. There’s lots of things we do and we’ll make sure you like all of it, I promise, or we won’t do it.”

One thing she had learned about Tony Stark was that he always kept his promises.

* * *

“So, the popcorn goes on the string?” Nebula rasped in confusion. She didn’t love talking, but of course luck would have her in the most hyper-verbal family in North America - as Bucky and Steve liked to remind the Starks - so she was trying to learn to use more words and fewer grunts.

Pepper nodded and showed Nebula how to thread the needle and push the needle through the most solid part of the popcorn.

It was… nice. A fire was crackling in the fireplace, where Morgan had earlier showed her how to roast the perfect marshmallow, and there was quiet music on in the background. A woman with a low, soothing voice was singing about doing Christmas in Tennessee. Nebula racked her brain quickly - _south of here, Nashville, country music, Steve and Bucky like going there, Tony refuses_.

“Who is singing?” she questioned Pepper softly, the rasp of disuse still there.

“Amy Grant,” Pepper replied quickly. “Do you like it? We can switch.”

“No,” Nebula said quickly. “I want to know what you like. That’s important.”

Nebula could have sworn she saw Pepper wipe quickly at her eye, but the pair returned to their work and she thought nothing further about it.

* * *

“NO,” Peter huffed loudly. “I HATE that movie.”

“I DON’T CARE,” Morgan huffed back at equal volume. “I won the bet! I get to pick the movie!”

Nebula was accustomed to bickering among siblings, obviously, but hadn’t ever seen either Peter or Morgan quite so worked up.

“Children,” Tony’s voice was quiet, but firm. “The rules are?”

“That whoever can get DUM-E to abandon the fire extinguisher for a whole day gets to pick the Christmas Eve movie,” Peter recited. “And I’m fine with that, but shouldn’t there be some veto power?”

“Why?” Tony countered. “You want to rob your little sister of her favorite movie? Look at that face.” He addressed Morgan. “Puppy dog eyes, kiddo.”

Pepper rolled her eyes and grinned at Nebula. “Neb, can you help me in the kitchen?”

Nebula followed dutifully and cast a curious gaze at Pepper.

“In about three minutes, Peter will finally admit that he can’t watch _Miracle on 34th Street_ because it was his mom’s favorite movie, and both Morgan and Tony will feel terrible and so everyone is going to need something to do with their hands while they ignore their emotions.” Pepper grinned. “So let’s get some cheese and crackers out.”

“So, the movie reminds him too much of his mother?” Nebula clarified.

Pepper nodded. “He misses his parents and his Uncle Ben, just like you miss your adoptive father and sister. Grief rarely goes completely away, and there are things that make it more painful, and for Peter, one of those things is that particular movie.”

“Why don’t you just say something?”

Pepper shrugged. “Because both my husband and my daughter need to learn to ask questions sometimes, even to people they think they know really well, and Peter needs to learn to speak clearly.”

“This feels like manipulation,” Nebula said slowly, and Pepper rewarded her with a laugh.

“Parenting often is.”

* * *

Later that night, after appropriate confessions were made and apologies issued and _Elf_ watched as the family movie, Peter carried a sleeping Morgan up to bed, just as May and Happy arrived from the city after her final holiday shift.

“So.” May shed her coat and immediately sat next to Nebula. “How is Earth Christmas so far?”

Nebula weighed her words. May was still someone she was getting used to. A different kind of human woman from Pepper, or from Natasha, but one she was growing increasingly fond of. In her past life, there was only really one way to behave and it had broken her into someone she didn’t like being. Tony had told her she got to decide who she wanted to be and to look at everyone around her for lessons in how to do that.

From Pepper, she learned kindness, from Natasha she learned observation. From MJ and Wanda and Mantis, she learned how to be inquisitive. From Steve, Sam, and Bucky, she learned to treat everyone with respect, but to never take any shit from anyone. From Tony, she learned what family meant. From May? May was teaching her how to relax.

“It’s warm,” Nebula said slowly. “I know there’s snow, and so it’s cold, but it feels… my heart feels warm.”

May grinned and squeezed Nebula’s hand. “That is how family should feel, Nebula. I’m so glad you’re part of ours now.”

“May,” Tony interrupted them. “You guys are in the downstairs room if you want to get changed.”

May smiled at Tony and asked Happy to help her bring everything in from the car. She was roundly rejected, as Tony and Happy trudged outside themselves and Pepper placed a glass of May’s favorite wine into her hand and a mug of hot chocolate into Nebula’s.

Peter came back down the stairs shortly after May and Happy were settled in the living room and there was another round of hugs - so many hugs - and soon Nebula found herself sandwiched between Tony and Peter.

“We doing Christmas Eve gifts, boss?” Happy asked.

“Happy, I - yes, we are,” Tony shook his head and smiled at Happy. Addressing Nebula, he explained that it was a long-standing Stark family tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve and soon she found herself in the possession of a lumpy package.

“We let Tony wrap it,” Pepper explained.

Tony defended his wrapping skills, while Pepper mocked them, as Nebula tore back the paper expectantly. Inside, she was surprised to find a quilt.

“So,” Tony started, “this requires some explanation.”

Nebula looked over at him, this man who had given her a home, and listened carefully.

“When Morgan was born, Pepper found all these scraps of fabric from our lives together and made her a baby blanket out of them, or, technically paid someone else to do it, but the sentiment is the same.” Tony smiled.

“I have many skills,” Pepper defended herself, and the room chuckled.

“So, when we were thinking of how to tell you that you’re now part of us,” Tony continued, “she had the idea of giving you a blanket for your bed.”

“Or for family movie nights,” Peter added.

“Right,” Tony smiled. “So each of these squares is from someone on our weird little extended team.”

Gently, Peter, Pepper, and Tony started pointing out the origins of each quilt square - _this is from Hill, her old SHIELD training shirt, and this one is from Bucky, a square from one of his Wakanda slings, and this here is from Shuri, and she said to tell you it’s been blessed by the priestesses of Wakanda, and then this one is from Rocket and we were afraid to ask what it is, but we washed it a bunch of times_ \- and Nebula found herself quietly crying.

“It's too much?” Pepper quietly asked, and Nebula shook her head.

“I just can’t repay this,” Nebula responded.

“You already have,” Tony smiled. “You chose us. That’s payment enough.”

It couldn’t really be that simple, could it? She wasn’t sure, but Nebula took a look around her, at all of these people who'd welcomed her into their lives without batting an eye, and knew that she'd spend the rest of her life trying to find out.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/betheflame1) or [Tumblr](http://betheflame.tumblr.com) for more on these yahoos. You can also submit prompts and cajole me into writing faster - it usually works. If you're on Discord, I'm definitely there, too, and probably hanging in the [Stony](https://discord.gg/z5WSqbS) or [Stuckony](https://discord.gg/jtXcc3n) servers.


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